Latvijas Vēsturnieku komisijas raksti - 23.sējums

144 Konferences “Baltija Otrajā pasaules karā (1939–1945)” referāti par holokausta tematiku
Stahlecker’s EG A. Regardless, it is somewhat striking that both had not long previously
been sent by Himmler personally on important SS missions to Norway.
After Kaunas, Sk 1b moved on to Daugavpils, where Ehrlinger organised the first
mass killings there. Between 8 and 12 July, his men were responsible for the execution
of over 1150 Jews – both local residents and refugees that had fled from Lithuania.
On 13 July, Ehrlinger was relieved in Daugavpils by Joachim Hamann, who headed a
Rollkommando of Karl Jäger’s Einsatzkommado 3 (EK 3). 29 Sk 1b moved on towards the
Leningrad front in the wake of Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord). In November
1941, it was transferred to Minsk, where Ehrlinger became KdS for occupied Belarus
(Weißruthenien). 30
Ehrlinger’s career developed steadily. In January 1942, he was made KdS in Kiev. In
September 1943, now SS-Standartenführer, he was promoted to BdS in Ukraine, and a
month later transferred back to Minsk as BdS for Belarus. In 1944, in recognition of his
exemplary service in furthering the genocidal ambitions of the SS in Lithuania, Belarus,
and the Ukraine, Himmler awarded Ehrlinger the rank of SS-Oberführer. 31
There is at least one more interesting example of one of Himmler’s personal envoys
to Norway in 1940 also being sent to the Baltic States in the wake of EG A in 1941,
albeit of a slightly different character. Otto Marrenbach was inducted into the SS on 20
April 1940, and straight away elevated to the rank of SS-Oberführer. 32 Unlike Stahlecker
and Ehrlinger, however, Marrenbach appears to have either hidden or downplayed his
SS affiliation; instead, he figures mainly in the literature as a high-ranking official of
the NSDAP, and especially as a Geschäftsführer of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF).
Most likely due to his expertise on organising the social welfare programmes of the
DAF, 33 Marrenbach was initially assigned to the outwardly modest, but highly influential
post in the Reichskommisariat administration of organising labour and social services
(Arbeits- und Sozialwesen) in occupied Norway. 34 Less openly, however, he was also
assigned by Himmler to have a place in the staff of the HSSPF in Norway. 35 This was
presumably to facilitate the main task entrusted to him by the SS, which in all likelihood
meant trying to bring the Norwegian Arbeidstjeneste (AT), a national socialist youth
labour service headed by Axel Stang, under the full control of the SS. 36
Even though Stang was eventually included in the list of ministers in Quisling’s
collaborationist cabinet, the SS was thwarted in its first attempt to wrest control of AT
from Quisling’s faction. This in part may be one part of the reason for Marrenbach
having left Norway for Germany again already in late May 1940. 37
Despite his rather rapid retreat from Norway, Marrenbach had not lost Himmler’s
confidence. In Berlin, he set up a liaison office for relations with the collaborationist
movement in Norway. 38 Gottlob Berger later championed Marrenbach’s promotion to
SS-Brigadeführer – despite the latter’s lack of combat experience at the front – due to